 Nonfiction is like those TV contests where you get a basket of pre-chosen ingredients to cook with…Fiction, on the other hand. My god! There are no constraints. 

Amherst Fact

Nations and states represented by this year’s seniors: 29 countries (including Australia, Botswana, China, Germany, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Nepal, South Africa, Switzerland and Taiwan) and 41 U.S. states and territories.

The Liberal Arts

A liberal-arts education develops an individual’s potential for understanding possibilities, perceiving consequences, creating novel connections and making life-altering choices. It fosters innovative and critical thinking as well as strong writing and speaking skills. The liberal arts prepare students for many possible careers, meaningful lives and service to society.

May 19, 2018

March 26, 2018

ALUMNI IN THE FIELD: As part of our on-going Alumni in the Field series, where alumni reflect on their career paths and how their Amherst experience shaped their lives, meet Luciana Duarte ‘93, a native Brazilian, who was originally set on being a literature major, but found herself adding a new subject after an experience many fellow alumni can relate to: she took a class and fell in love with anthropology.

March 1, 2018

NEW SCIENCE CENTER: Amherst’s new science center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2018. The state-of-the-art building will be a home for teaching and research and offer additional classrooms and gathering spaces for the entire campus. The science center also will set a new standard in energy efficiency. The average science building uses 250 kilo BTUs per square foot per year; we intend to reduce that number by 73%. [Video transcript]

February 13, 2018

ALUMNI IN THE FIELD: From the time he used to sneak into the Pratt Museum late at night to catalog fossils, Kirk Johnson ’82 has always seen the importance of preserving history in three-dimensional form. Now as the Sant Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where he is responsible for a collection of more than 145 million objects, Johnson sees more value in cataloguing natural history than ever before. Then, as now, Johnson believes that the true value of museums is in sharing, not only an understanding of the history of the planet and of humans, but of how the two interact.

November 15, 2017

INTERVIEW: Before his talk at Amherst College titled “How Not to Think About Race, Culture and Class,” author, professor and philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah sat down for an interview with Stefan Yong ’18. He discussed moral relativism, dignity, respect, and our capacity to recognize human suffering. —Video recorded and edited by Marcus DeMaio.

September 20, 2017

ALUMNI IN THE FIELD: As part of our on-going Alumni in the Field series, where alumni reflect on their career paths and how their Amherst experience shaped their lives, Catherine Brownstein ’97 discusses how her liberal arts education at Amherst College prepared her for a profession that didn't even exist when she started her undergraduate journey. [Video transcript]

Arts of China

Description

Get to know Chinese art and its cultural contexts from neolithic times until the late 20th century. Topics include ritual bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Buddha imagery, painting and calligraphy.

Environmental Movements

Description

Draw upon sociological research to understand diverse global environmental movements and proposed environmental solutions, which reflect a wide range of perspectives and interests, as well as social inequalities.

Videogames and the Boundaries of Narrative

Description

Explore how video gaming helps us conceptualize the boundaries between our experiences of the world and representations thereof. Play and analyze games while engaging texts from other critical and creative disciplines.

≠ (Inequality)

Description

Examine inequality in K-12 math education. How is variation in accomplishment in mathematics related to race, gender and socioeconomic class? How do public attitudes toward math affect student learning?

Puerto Rico: Diaspora Nation

Description

Examine the literary and cultural manifestations of the Puerto Rican diaspora. In partnership with the Holyoke Public Library, conduct oral history interviews in Holyoke, Mass., and in Puerto Rico during spring break.